AR-15, shotgun brought to Lee's Summit High by teens involved in 'beef,' police say

Four men were charged with a felony after allegedly bringing an AR-15 and shotgun onto Lee's Summit High School's campus on Wednesday.

Tanner J. Nicholson, 17; Landon Mikle, 18; Tynan B. Mullen, 18; and Scott W. Ryan, 19, were all charged with unlawful use of a weapon on Thursday. They face up to four years in prison.

According to charging documents written based on Lee's Summit police's investigation and interviews with the four men and one anonymous witness:

All four men were on campus with the AR-15 and shotgun in Mikle's vehicle. Mikle had let Mullen borrow his vehicle earlier that day.

Mikle is a student at Lee's Summit High.

Mullen was no longer a student at the school and had been told to not be on campus. He is a senior at Summit Ridge Academy, an alternative school.

It is unclear whether Nicholson and Ryan are students at Lee's Summit High.

Mikle left school at about 2:30 p.m. and entered his vehicle, he told police. He saw an AR-15 in the front seat and "freaked out," telling his friends that there were cameras everywhere and to get off campus.

He also saw a shotgun on the floorboard. Mikle said he believed the AR-15 was empty. He was not sure if the shotgun was empty and a handgun he saw had one round in the chamber.

Ryan and Nicholson then saw a person nearby whom they had a "beef" with, and exited the car to confront him.

An anonymous witness said Nicholson and Ryan said they were there to "take care of business," and the witness added that they flashed guns after making the statement.

The witness heard Nicholson tell the person they confronted: "Don't ever talk about me again or I'll kill you."

The witness saw a rifle, a handgun and a "couple of other handguns."

School officials were alerted to the incident by an anonymous tip about Mullen being seen on campus displaying several weapons. School officials alerted authorities.

Officers tracked the suspects to a Lee's Summit residence.

Police wrote that they recovered an AR-15, a shotgun, ammunition and marijuana.

Two suspects told police that Ryan had stolen the AR-15 and and a 9mm Beretta from his mother with the intent to sell them.

The suspects allegedly all handled the shotgun and AR-15 earlier Wednesday during a trip to Lake Jacomo. They then loaded the weapons into Mikle's vehicle and traveled to Lee's Summit High for a game of football at about 2 p.m.

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker praised the swift action taken by school officials, students and authorities to "safeguard the community's safety."

Prosecutors requested a bond of $50,000 for each defendant.

This story was originally published March 1, 2018 at 11:06 PM with the headline "AR-15, shotgun brought to Lee's Summit High by teens involved in 'beef,' police say."